He appears out of the sea washed up naked in the treacherous Straits of Gibraltar. Seemingly delirious & claiming to be Christopher Columbus he is taken to an insane asylum in Seville where astonishingly he starts to reveal the true story of how he set sail on behalf of the Spanish queen five hundred years ago. Consuela a nurse at the Institute is charged with helping him back to reality. She listens to his fantastic tales in the hope of discovering the truth. But as his story unfolds she finds herself falling for her patient -- no longer able to tell where truth ends & fantasy begins. Meanwhile across the continent Emile Germain is involved in a different search. He's an Interpol officer on the hunt for a missing person presumed dangerous. He's a determined man & when his investigation leads to Spain these two stories collide. Part romance part mysterious thriller this is a rich & emotional novel about love loss & the fragile beauty of our own life stories.